U.S. Condemns Palestinian's Attack

Published 8:00 pm, Wednesday, January 16, 2002

The United States urged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to hunt down those responsible for supporting a gunman who killed six people Thursday at a Jewish confirmation ceremony in northern Israel.

The Israeli military chief of staff, meanwhile, said that Arafat's Palestinian Authority had made no decision to stop terrorism. To the contrary, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, in Washington for two days of talks with senior Bush administration officials, told the Israeli public in broadcasts that Palestinian officials were actually sponsoring terrorism.

In the talks, Mofaz accused Iran of deep involvement in support of terrorism against Israel and said it posed a threat to security in the region, a diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press.

"There can be no tolerance for those who would act against the interests of the Palestinian people," said Philip Reeker, a State Department spokesman, in a statement.

"As leader of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Fatah, Chairman Arafat must take immediate action against those responsible for these acts and confront the infrastructure that perpetuates terror and violence," he said.

Reeker called the attack "vicious" and a "horrific act of terrorism."

Hours after the attack, Israeli warplanes destroyed the Palestinian government headquarters in the West Bank in a retaliatory strike.

The renewed violence promises to setback the peace process.

With violence flaring anew and U.S. peacemaking on hold, Mofaz discussed the bleak situation first with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and then with Condoleeza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser.

He also saw Steve Hadley, who is Rice's deputy, and Anthony Zinni, the U.S. mediator whose two trips to the region failed to rebuild a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians.

On Friday, the general was due to meet with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Zinni was expected to go back to the region this week, but his departure has been postponed at least until Secretary of State Colin Powell returns on Monday from a weeklong trip to South Asia and Japan and they assess the situation.

While Arafat's police have made some arrests in terrorist incidents and in the attempted smuggling of Iranian weapons to the Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon still is not inclined to make the peacemaking gestures suggested by a special commission headed by former Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell.

As a result, Bush administration policy-makers do not see any point in sending Zinni back to the region now.

They also feel that Arafat should be ordering more arrests in the slaying of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeev in October and the attempt to smuggle in weapons.

"I had a very good meeting," Mofaz said after he talked to Armitage. The deputy secretary of state made no statement.

Bush has insisted Arafat "make a 100 percent effort" to reduce violence in the region. Bush underscored the request with a letter to the Palestinian leader in October. There has been no response.

The attack at a bat mitzvah in Hadera, Israel, near the West Bank, killed six people and injured 30. The gunman was shot and killed by police. The Al Aqsa Brigades, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah, claimed responsibility.

Responding to the slaying of three Israeli civilians earlier by Palestinian gunmen, Israel renewed its blockade of several Palestinian towns on the West Bank.

A Palestinian militia leader died in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops on the West Bank.